Do celebrities get harsher treatment than others? With respect to Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, it seems that way to me.

The ink wasn't even dry on Paris Hilton's plea and sentencing documents when she flew from Las Vegas to Tokyo for legitimate and lucrative business reasons. Yet she was denied entry into Japan and told to wait at an airport hotel. She's now been asked to wait another day, while Japanese officials make up their mind whether to allow her entry. The two reasons I've seen given: They don't allow people on probation or people with drug offenses to visit Japan.

It's a very harsh deal. She's agreeing to two suspended six month jail sentences, a year of unsupervised probation, and if she merely gets arrested (no conviction required) for anything other than a minor traffic offense, she agrees to immediately go in and serve the year.

The complaint against her will be amended to add a charge of obstruction of a police officer. The factual basis? She lied when she told the arresting officer that the Chanel purse she was carrying (that had less than a gram of cocaine inside it) did not belong to her. How do police know that was a lie? Because she posted a Twitpic of the purse on her Twitter feed a few weeks before the arrest with the caption, "Love My New Chanel Purse I Got Today." [More...]

Already the media pundits are predicting "hard time" for Paris Hilton after last night's arrest in Las Vegas on a cocaine possession charge.

I doubt it. First off, while possession of cocaine is a class E felony in Nevada, the statute mandates probation except in certain instances, and Paris doesn't fit any of the exceptions. Nevada, like most states, also has deferred sentencing for those who are guilty of such offenses, allowing them to end up without a permanent conviction on their record.

Paris' prior conviction in CA was for alcohol-related reckless driving, a misdemeanor. She's no longer on probation. [More...]

The LA Times reports that the feds are investigating LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and his wife. The lengthy article doesn't mention that Rocky Delgadillo was the city attorney who insisted on hammering Paris Hilton, notwithstanding parallel conduct by his wife. But I did back when Paris was in the news:

Paris was sentenced for a probation violation for driving under suspension while on probation. Mrs. Delgadillo also drove under suspension and committed a traffic offense while doing so. She was not charged with driving under suspension, only the traffic offense, and was fined $186.00.

Paris got 23 days in jail for driving under suspension which was a violation of her probation. She wasn't charged or convicted of any traffic offense-- or of drunk driving-- on that occasion. She didn't cause an accident. Her only drunk driving charge was the one that led to her original term of probation. As I wrote here: [More...]

Paris responds to John McCain's using her in a celebrity ad. Shorter version: She's got her own energy plan and she'll see us in the White House.

Update: The video has been removed from You Tube and substituted with the above censored version that blanks out the word "b*tches.

I like Paris Hilton. I defended her plenty on TalkLeft during her last brush with the law. (Scroll down for the almost daily posts on the raw deal she got. I even live-blogged her court hearings. Graphic here. )

They must drink funny water in L.A. I don't get them. Paris Hilton gets 45 days for violating probation by driving with a suspended license (even though there was no alcohol involved in the probation violation and yes I know that she was put on probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving charge) while Lindsay Lohan gets 1 day in jail for all this:

She pleaded guilty to two counts of being under the influence of cocaine; no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above .08 percent and one count of reckless driving. Two counts of driving under the influence were dropped.

Lohan had two arrests for drunk driving, one in May, in which she crashed her car and fled the scene, and the other in July, shortly after getting out of rehab.

Paris Hilton was on Larry King Live for the entire hour tonight describing her three weeks in jail. She exhibited both grace and humility. She seemed genuine to me. There was no self-pity.

She's clearly struggling to find herself and seems determined to have something positive come out of the experience.

I doubt it's easy for anyone to go in front of millions of people and describe her fears and psychological disabilities or to describe something as humilitating as being strip-searched.

Interesting: Paris denies ever taking illegal drugs. She says she doesn't have a drinking problem. She has ADD and takes Adderall. Her parents don't support her financially, she describes herself as a businesswoman with her own successful businesses.

I'm sure there will be a million comments on the internet in the wake of tonight's interview tearing her down. I give Paris a lot of credit.

I don't think the news will be all Paris, all the time tonight. ABC and NBC decided not to do exclusive post-jail interviews after unconfirmed reports that the networks would pay big bucks for the rights to photos from the Hilton family. Instead, Larry King Live will get the "honors."

An examination by The Times of seven years worth of sentencing data showed that Hilton's 23-day jail stay was more than five times the average than served since 2002 by those serving time for similar charges.

Meanwhile, the allegations against the City Attorney who asked for her jail sentence and his wife (who drove with a suspended license and no insurance but avoided jail even after being in an accident) continue raise questions about "fairness and hypocrisy" in the LA criminal justice system:

[Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky] Delgadillo had argued that the hotel heiress should spend more time in jail for driving with a suspended license and violating her probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges. Later that day, Delgadillo acknowledged in response to inquiries from reporters that his wife had been ticketed for failing to obey a right-turn-only sign while driving her personal car with a suspended license in 2005.

Paris was sentenced for a probation violation for driving under suspension while on probation. Mrs. Delgadillo also drove under suspension and committed a traffic offense while doing so. She was not charged with driving under suspension, only the traffic offense, and was fined $186.00.

Mrs. Delgadillo was under suspension for causing a traffic accident and not having insurance. According to California law, the penalty for driving under suspension is a fine between $5,000 and $25,000.00. She also failed to file an accident report.

Yes, we're all grateful the news is no longer focused 24/7 on Paris Hilton. But this is worth noting. I've argued all along her 45 day sentence was unfair when compared with others on probation whose only violation was driving under suspension.

The Los Angeles Times has confirmed it. Out of 2 million jail releases in L.A. County, the paper found 1,500 for persons who committed an alcohol offense, were placed on probation and then violated probation by driving under suspension.

The results:

Had Hilton left jail after four days, her stint behind bars would have been similar to those served by 60 percent of those inmates. But after a judge sent her back to jail Friday, Hilton's attorney announced she would serve the full 23 days in jail. That means Hilton will end up serving more time than 80 percent of others in a similar situation.

Paris Hilton should not receive special treatment because of her celebrity or financial status, but neither should she be treated more harshly. As Patrick Fitzgerald repeatedly said during the sentencing hearing of Scooter Libby, when it comes to sentencing, "one's station in life does not matter."

Paris Hilton was just ordered back to jail in Lynwood. Hilton left the courtoom in tears, screaming, "Mom, Mom, Mom."

One witness described the scene as being "physically dragged" out of the courtroom by a female deputy.

Update: The court spokesman says at 12:30 pm PT after the hearing that the Sheriff called the court and asked if he would modify his sentence. The Court told the Sheriff to file the appropriate pleadings and the Sheriff never did. The issue of her medical condition never came up at the hearing because no papers were ever filed about it.

Get ready for the appeal and a fight over whether the appeals court will stay the court's order today pending the outcome. She could be out today if the appeals court stays the order. But nothing will happen before Monday.

The judge in the Paris Hilton case flip-flops again. First he says Paris can appear by phone. Then the City Attorney complains and he orders her to come in. They are now waiting for Paris to arrive.

I'm riveted to the tv. I can't stand all the prosecutor heads screaming for blood. All three of the cable networks have them front and center. It's Gladiator Central.

But I'm watching as I'm packing and getting ready to leave town and will try to make to the finish.

Update: Hearing now scheduled for "midday" local time. The Sheriff's van is on its way to Paris' house to pick her up. They are going to do a perp walk? How disgusting. Her bodyguard has umbrellas in hand. The scene at her home is a complete circus. I haven't seen anything like this since the OJ road chase.